National Security Agency

From Conservapedia

The National Security Agency (NSA) is a signals intelligence agency within the United StatesDepartment of Defense. Its mission is to collect and analyze all foreign signals intelligence of interest to the security of the United States and to protect all classified and sensitive information stored on government information technology equipment. In addition, the NSA supports and contributes to the civilian use of cryptography and advanced computer security measures.

The agency is headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, an active U.S. Army installation in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Approximately 30,000 people are employed worldwide by the agency. The size of the agency's budget is classified however its allocated resources are still subject to independent rigorous examination and approval processes.

The NSA was secretly created on November 4, 1952, the same day as the presidential election, without media coverage, congressional debate, nor press release. It has had sixteen directors. The longest serving director was U.S. Air Force General Michael Hayden who oversaw major management changes and later became the director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

2013 the whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA monitors and evaluates, by means of PRISM, electronic data.